Corrugated steel floor for refrigerator cars



Apnl 5, 1949. E. R. BATTLEY ETAL CORRUGATED STEEL FLOORl FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Jan. 26, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 5, 1949. E. R. BATTLEY ETAL 2,456,073

CORHUGATED STEEL FLOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Jan. 26, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY Geoge NCCQQ,

Patented Apr. 5, 1949 CORRUGATED STEEL'FLOOR FOR `REFRIGERATOR CARS Edwin R. Battleyvaynd George E. McCoy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Application January 26, 1945, Serial. No. 574,792

6 Claims.

cars such as are used to transport perishable edible commodities, and more particularly to the floor construction thereof, and has for its object to provide a strong and light construction,` easy to manufacture and build into a car of this type.

The iioor is particularly adaptable to cars known in lthe trade as overhead bunker cars, wherein air is cooled by being forced to circulate around said bunkers, down through ues associated with the side walls of the car, and up through the lading compartmentabout the lading therein. The floor is also adapted for use in such cars when crushed ice is placed directly upon the lading and wherein the Water from the meltingice drains down over and about the lading to the oor beneath andv is directed thereby out of the car.

An object of the invention is to secure a relatively thin corrugated Sheet to the sub-noor, under the foraminous floor, which sheet performs the double function of strengthening the floor, and the corrugations. provide'v transverse ues to more evenly distribute the cooled air under the lading so as to evenly cool said lading., and wherein said corrugations. also provide transverse troughs to direct. water to the sidesv of the car floor.

A further object of the invention is to secure said corrugated metallic sheet at its side and end edges to the sides and ends of the car so that moisture may not penetrate therethroughV to the car insulation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a corrugated oor sheet to support the foraminous oor.

Other objects andy advantagesi of the invention will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 shows a vertical section through a lower corner of a refrigerator carV and l'oor illustrating the corrugations` as terminating within the sheet to form a flat margin and a flange overlapped by the iiue sheet and supported by the bottom chord of inner truss and with longitudinal perforated stringers upon the corrugated sheet for supporting the foraminous floor.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the foramin-ous floor resting directly upon the corrugated oor sheet, but wherein the floor sheet overlaps one. side Wall of a gutter, and the flue sheet overlaps the other side wall of said gutter.

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 2, but wherein the inner wall of the gutter is provided with a scalloped upper edge which is overlapped by theA corrugated sheet, the.- corrugations extending toy the edge of the sheet tor this purpose.

(Cl. 10S-422) Figure 4 is a perspective View, partly broken away, of Figure 3.

In the drawings, the oor of the car is shown as comprising the lower metallic sheet I, plies of insulating material, 2, wooden sub-floor 3, and corrugated metallic floor sheet 4. In Figure 1 the corrugations 5 are shown as terminating Within the sheet, providing a fiat side marginal portion 6 which', at its outer edges, is turned upwardly at an angle providing a ange 1, thereby forming a gutter extending longitudinally of the car.

The. side wall comprises the outer sheathing 8 attached in any acceptable manner at its lower edge to a vertical. arm 9 of the side sill I0. Longitudinally spaced inner side posts II (Fig. 4) rests uponl the, floor 3 and a flue sheet. or sheets I2 extend between said posts to provide ues I3 for conducting cooled air from the upper part of the car to the space. I4 adjacent the oor. Plies of insulating. material I5 are. installed between the outer sheathing. ii' and flue sheet I.2 to prevent egress or ingress of heat through said wall. An inner side sill I6 or bottom chord member, is shown as comprising anangle having a vertically disposed arm Il secured to said posts, as by rivets |181, and a horizontally disposed arml I9 supporting the ends of the corrugations so that at least part of the load imposed on the corrugations is carried'. thereby to. said chord member. The chord member I6 is supported by a timber or beam 20 directly therebelow. The lower edge of thev flue sheet I`2 is provided With a downwardly and inwardly extending flange 23- which overlaps the iiange l and is secured thereto by a line of welding 24. Thus the oor andI fiue sheets adequately prevent any moisture from contacting the insulation material. Flue lining is shown at 25- so that air and liquidI flow downwardly therethrough and out into the space I4 adjacent the car floor, as shown by they arrows, Figure 1'. Longitudinal stringers are shown at 26' as resting upon the corrugations 5, which stringers support the foraminous floor 2l upon which the lading is carried.

Stringers 26 are provided with perforationsw28 lthrough whichthe air may circulate and the foraminous floor 21- is provided with a plurality of spaced holes 29 so that the circulating air, as it passes under the toraminous iioor, is warmed by thev lading and may pass upwardlythrough said holes 29 to and about the lading. The spaces between the oor 21' and floor sheet 4 intermediate the corrugations 5 provide a plurality of transverse channels within which the air may move in its circulating path. Also when the foraminous door 2l is removed. for cleaning the corrugated sheet, as witha hose, the water isz. carried tothe gutter by said' channels.

In Figure 2 the. corrugatedoor sheet 3.0 i'ssimi'zlar. to that shown. in Figure 1, excepting` that: a

channel-shaped gutter 3| is provided having an inner side wall 32 formed with a flange 33, and thus the side margin 34 of the floor sheet is turned downwardly overlapping the flange 33 and side wall 32 and m-ay be secured thereto in any ac.

ceptable manner. The corrugations 35 in this modification merge into the ange .34 and the ends of said corrugations are supported by the gutter 3|. The inner side sill is shown at 36 and the outer wall 31 of the gutter abuts against the vertical Iarm of said sill 36. In this modification the lower margin 38 of the ilue sheet 39 overlaps the outer wall 31 of the gutter, thereby carrying any drainage from said ues directly to the gutter and thence out of the car through usual drains indicated at 40.

Because the gutter provides additional area at the juncture of the flue I3 and space 4l under the :door 42, said floor may rest directly upon the corrugations 35 of the floor sheet and still provide room for the circulating air thereunder.

In Figures 3 and 4 the corrugations 45 of the :door sheet 46 extend to the edge of the sheet. The inner wall 41 of the gutter 48 is provided with a serrated upper edge, as clearly shown in Figure 4, said serrations snugly fitting the under surface of the corrugated floor sheet 46 to thereby close the space under said corrugations. The foraminous floor 49 in this instance also rests directly upon the corrugations 45, the outer plank I) thereof extending over the side of the gutter and being supported by the spaced angle clips 5| secured, as by rivets 52, to the side wall 41 of the gutter. The remainder of the structure is substantially identical with that shown in Figure 2.

It will be noted in Figure 4 that a corrugation 45 of the floor sheet 46 occurs opposite each post Il so that the flues I3 between said posts are thereby positioned opposite the space between the corrugations 45 opposite the posts. Furthermore the cross sectional area of the iiues I3 is substantially equal to the cross sectional area of the spaces between the corrugations and under the foraminous floor 49 so that there is no choking of the air circulation as it passes from the flues to the space between said corrugations.

While the corrugations 45 are shown in Figure 4 as being spaced, it is obvious that they may be sinuous and so proportioned as to function as above set forth.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In a railway refrigerator car floor, a substantially channel-shaped gutter, a floor sheet overlapping one wall of said guttter and secured thereto, said floor sheet having corrugations formed therein extending at substantially right angles to said gutter, and a foraminous floor resting upon the apices of said corrugations 'and supported by said corrugations, whereby said corrugated oor sheet strengthens said oor and divides the space between said sheet and foraminous iioor into a plurality of channels to evenly distribute air circulating therethrough.

2. In a railway refrigerator car oor, a substantially channel-shaped gutter extending longitudinally of the car, a floor sheet overlapping one wall of said gutter and secured thereto, said floor sheet having corrugations formed therein ex- 4 tending substantially transversely of said car, and a foraminous door resting upon the apices of said corrugations and supported by said corrugations, whereby said corrugated floor sheet strengthens said floor, supports said foraminous floor and divides the space between said sheet and foraminous floor into a plurality of channels to evenly distribute air circulating therethrough.

3. In a railway refrigerator car floor, a substantially channel-shaped gutter having the upper edge of one wall thereof serrated, a floor lsheet overlapping the serrated wall of said gutter and secured thereto, said floor sheet having corrugations formed therein extending to the edge of said sheet, said serrations conforming to the shape of the under side of the edge of said sheet, and a foraminous oor resting upon and supported by said corrugations.

4. In a railway refrigerator car having -a wall and vertical air ues associated therewith and a oor; said iioor including a floor sheet formed with a plurality of corrugations extending norm-a1 to saidwall, and a foraminous iioor resting upon the apices of said corrugations and supported by said corrugations to provide air circulating spaces between said corrugations, whereby air descending through said flues into said spaces is distributed through said foraminous floor to a lading carried thereby.

5. In a railway refrigerator car having a wall and vertical air ues associated therewith and a door; a substantially channel-shaped gutter at the juncture of said wall and floor, said floor including a floor sheet overlapping one wall of said gutter and formed with a plurality of corrug-arug'ations, whereby air descending through said flues into said spaces is distributed through said foraminous floor to a lading carried thereby and liquid descending through said flues and liquid upon said corrugated sheet is drained into said gutter.

6. In a railway refrigerator car having a wall comprising spaced posts and vertical air fluesI therebetween and a oor; a substantially channel shaped gutter at the juncture of said wall and floor; said floor including a oor sheet overlapping one Wall of said gutter and formed with a. plurality of corrugations extending normal to said gutter, and a foraminous floor resting upon the apices of said corrugations and supported by said corrugations to provide air circulating spaces between said corrugations, whereby air descending through said flues into said spaces is distributed through said foraminous floor to a lading carried thereby, the area of said spaces being substantially equal to the area oi said flues.

EDWIN R. BATTLEY. GEORGE E. MCCO'Y.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,093,118 Gilpin Sept. 14, 1937 2,142,797 Murphy J-an. 3, 1939 2,142,798 Murphy Jan. 3, 1939 2,245,529 Lundvall June 10, 1941 2,312,016 Zeidler Feb. 23, 1943v 

